A rare gilt bronze figure of eleven-headed Avalokitesvara China, Tang Dynasty

cast standing on a circular pedestal, the folds of the dhoti finely cast in rhythmic cascades, the torso left bare adorned with elaborate necklaces and the right arm held up to grasp a feathery whisk, the left elbow pierced to secure a projecting forearm, now missing, the head with rounded features framed by pendent tresses and long fluttering scarves, set with six further heads at the crown of the head flanking a small image of Buddha Amitabha, with a hole at the top for the insertion of the remaining missing heads, and leaving an eighth head unusually projecting from the back (stand)

The Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara with eleven heads is known as Samantamukha, the All-Pitying One, who looks in every direction to save all creatures. The legend explains the heads with Avalokitesvara's attempt to save culprits from hell. When he realized that for every soul saved another wicked soul took its place, his head out of grief split into many pieces. These, Amitabha turned into heads, whose additional eyes and brains would assist him in his efforts to save mankind.

While six-armed manifestations of this emanations are known in gilt bronze, two-armed versions appear slightly more rare, compare a figure with openwork nimbus, in the Museum fur Ostasiatische Kunst, Berlin, illustrated in Hai-Wai Yi-Chen. Chinese Art in Overseas Collections. Buddhist Sculpture I, Taipei, 1986, pl.108. A related figure from the Mottahedeh collection and formerly from Yamanaka and Co., was sold in these rooms, 27th May 1944, lot 724, and again 4th November 1978, lot 211.